I Was Waiting for You

Brutal was a tier-two pro gamer for Wild Spirits.

He had started his professional career as a Berserker, but his journey hadn't been smooth sailing.

It was as if he had hit a wall.

No matter what he did, he couldn't seem to improve, falling into a severe slump.

Fortunately, his potential finally bloomed with the Wolf Druid, a class he had been practicing as a wildcard pocket ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pick.

If he hadn't discovered his talent there, he would have given up on his dream of being a pro gamer altogether.

Conversely, this meant that when playing the Wolf Druid, Brutal was one of the rising prospects destined to lead the future of the league.

It was true that he had suffered a crushing defeat in the previous match.

However, he wasn't so weak that he could be toyed with by such an absurd tactic.

Brutal suppressed his boiling desire for revenge and anger.

Well, to be precise, it was more like he was forced to calm down.

Anyone who saw the horde of monsters Yu Nabi was dragging along would have no choice but to regain their senses.

Humans, surprisingly, were creatures that snapped back to reality when confronted with an utterly absurd sight.

It was threatening even without getting completely close.

Every single breath exhaled by that massive horde of monsters contributed to the debuff.

And the accumulated debuffs lowered defense while dealing continuous damage.

In Brutal's eyes, the massive wave no longer looked like monsters.

Rather, it was closer to a giant cloud of poison.

A lethal green toxic gas, seemingly possessed of its own will, was closing in on the Wild Spirits' camp.

That crazy bitch Yu Nabi was essentially committing chemical warfare in-game.

"Can't we do something about that?"

"...What the hell are we supposed to do about that?"

Naturally, Wild Spirits had no intention of just taking it lying down.

They didn't want to, but there was nothing they could do.

Yu Nabi's movements right now were incredibly conspicuous.

The monster wave had grown so massive that it was impossible to miss, and if one followed the flow to the very front, Yu Nabi was right there.

So, launching ranged attacks at her wasn't difficult in itself.

However, Wild Spirits only had one ranged dealer at the moment.

There was no way SnowWitch's other team members would just be sitting on their hands.

The moment they fired even a single shot, relentless ultra-long-range harassment would undoubtedly rain down on them.

Brutal fell deep into thought.

Should we try ranged harassment?

Right now, Yu Nabi was practically a walking target.

But asking them to start a ranged skirmish at a 1-to-3 disadvantage was too harsh a demand.

Then, should we all charge in there together?

If they could somehow squeeze through and kill only Yu Nabi, they could take this match.

But taking fire right in the middle of that poison gas was suicide.

With their defense dropped into the negatives, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they would melt away like ice cream.

Even he, with his high base stats, wouldn't be an exception.

Even if they managed to kill Yu Nabi, the damage they sustained would be too severe.

If neither works, should we flank around the monster wave?

Around a wave that massive? When? How? By what means?

Flanking a castle wall to strike the enemy's rear was difficult.

Using a limited flanking route to target the rear was even harder.

And if the opponent had literally become a living, breathing castle wall, the difficulty was beyond words.

No matter how much he racked his brain, no ideas came to him.

Finally, Brutal let out a sigh.

"This is driving me crazy..."

There wasn't much he could do.

A monster came flying from afar.

It didn't seem to have flown over of its own free will.

If it had, it wouldn't have crashed into the outer wall of a building and ended up looking like a firework.

From the splattered blood and flesh, a green energy spread once again, stacking the debuff on my body.

The system messages felt routine by now.

The flying monsters didn't stop at just one; they continuously targeted the area around me.

Every now and then, the monsters behind me would get hit and explode, looking exactly like a medieval catapult at work.

Wait, hold on.

Now actual rocks were flying?

A boulder the size of my body smashed through a building wall.

It seemed they had decided to just throw whatever they could lay their hands on.

Feeling a bit dumbfounded, I turned my gaze and saw a massive wolf fleeing between the buildings.

Since they lacked ranged dealers, they must have resorted to this desperate measure.

It was a crude method, but I couldn't afford to let my guard down completely.

I should be careful with this too.

The continuous damage from the debuffs.

And the sporadic damage coming from the monsters wasn't very threatening to me.

Since I had invested heavily in health and regeneration, the healing from Harvest was more than enough to cover it.

But I was by no means immortal.

If anything, I was standing on the edge of the most dangerous cliff in this game.

If I got knocked down by one of those rocks or dragged into the middle of the monster horde, it would get extremely dangerous.

My teammates were providing covering fire to prevent that, but...

The source of this plague was fundamentally an urban area.

Firing angles couldn't always be open.

Just as we had utilized the battlefield's gimmick, the opponent could do the same.

Well... it wasn't like our advantage had vanished or anything.

Even that sturdy Druid was reduced to throwing rocks from a distance.

The only explanation was that he didn't dare to step inside.

This was proof that the enemy hadn't come up with a proper counter-strategy.

Good. Let's push in like this. If we drag things out, it'll only work against us.

The Grim Reaper's mobility wasn't particularly outstanding.

It definitely lacked the speed to force its way through the enemy's front lines like an Assassin.

However, it was noticeably better than typical melee classes.

After all, having good survivability meant being able to disengage from the battlefield quickly.

Which basically meant it was also easy to enter the enemy camp.

For instance, I could easily latch onto a Temple Knight who had stepped out too far forward.

I stuck close to the enemy Temple Knight, blocking his path.

Sweeping my scythe low to cut off his escape, I absorbed all the attacks from the enemy ranged dealer with my body.

I had no choice; if I tried to dodge, I would have to give up the path.

Did I take a pretty heavy hit just now?

My health was hovering just above the danger zone at 13%.

However, the remaining cooldown of Harvest was only 1.3 seconds.

The probability of me dying within this timeframe was infinitely close to zero.

And a Harvest cast in a density like this would instantly restore my health ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠close to maximum.

My safety was guaranteed.

In that case, I could afford to keep doing this.

I swung the scythe in a wide arc, intimidating the opponent.

When the enemy retreated, I advanced. When they counterattacked, I fell back.

As this frustrating skirmish dragged on, the opponent grew increasingly impatient.

I didn't need to score a major victory in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠close combat.

There were plenty of disease-ridden masses around here to make up for my lack of attack power.

If push came to shove, I could just tank their counterattacks with my body and focus solely on blocking their path.

"Ah, seriously—"

A swift mute before I could even hear three syllables.

My reaction speed might not be the fastest in the world, but I was confident in my speed at muting voice chat.

Thanks to that, free from any psychological attacks, I could continue to apply pressure.

I'm faster than you, so how are you going to run away?

Come here and play with me. Well, not actually play.

You know what I mean, right?

A drag-you-down-with-me tactic that wouldn't end until one of us died!

Of course, there was no way that person would be me.

Judging by his already pale complexion, the debuffs were thoroughly eating away at him from the inside.

At this rate, Wild Spirits would lose a precious teammate.

They were getting robbed in broad daylight before a proper team fight had even begun.

Unable to just watch it happen, the wolf finally chose to charge in.

I had been waiting for you to show up.

I couldn't decide when the enemy entered, but I could decide when they left.

No one was getting out of here alive.